Make me beautiful

In the United States, Photoshop has become a symbol of our society's unobtainable standards for beauty. I am a 24-year-old journalist based in Kansas City, Mo., and my project, Before & After, examines how these standards vary across cultures on a global level. Freelancing platforms, like Fiverr, have allowed me to contract nearly 40 individuals, from more than 25 countries. Some are experts; others, purely amateur. With a cost ranging from $5 to $30, and the hope that each designer will pull from their personal and cultural constructs of beauty to enhance my unaltered image, all I requested is that they Photoshop and "make me beautiful." Each one is a reflection of both the personal and cultural concepts of beauty that pertain to their creator. Photoshop allows us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more elusive. Esther Honig